"I heard you have a promotion here, ten yuan gets two yuan off?" Lin Wan was busy checking out customers when a middle-aged man in a gray suit came up and asked.
"Yes, spend five yuan and get one yuan off, spend ten yuan and get two yuan off, it’s a grand opening special, limited to three days," Lin Wan quickly explained with a smile.
The man uttered an "oh", looked around the hall, and then turned to Lin Wan and said, "Do you accept reservations? I need to book two tables for tomorrow. Is there a separate room? Preferably next to each other."
"Yes, there is a room upstairs with two tables inside," Lin Wan then took a closer look at the man, who had a briefcase under his arm and a gold ring on his finger, clearly someone wealthy. "Sir, for reservations, you need to pay a deposit in advance."
"Alright, how much?" The man agreed quite readily, as he started rummaging through his bag for money.
"I’ll book it for six-thirty tomorrow evening, just reserve the room for me."
"Okay, sir," Lin Wan responded while not forgetting to issue a receipt for the gentleman.
The middle-aged man felt assured by the formal manner.
In the afternoon, Lin Yinghui came back riding a tricycle, accompanied by a man about his age, with a few cases of drinks on the tricycle.
"Brother, you bought the tricycle?" Lin Wan saw the conspicuous blue and ran out to ask.
"Yes, bought it at the flea market, just painted it, be careful, it’s not dry yet," Lin Yinghui said, then pointed to Li Congnan beside him, "This is my classmate, Li Congnan. Congnan, this is my sister, Lin Wan."
"Since you’re Yinghui’s sister, from now on you’re our sister too. Hello, Sister Lin," Li Congnan’s call of Sister Lin made Lin Wan pause for a moment, then she laughed, thinking how humorous he was.
There are three types of drinks: one is an old-fashioned yogurt in glass bottles, the cap is a hard piece of paper held by a rubber band; orange flavored in transparent glass bottles, with tin lids; and another is kombucha, also in glass bottles. The bottles must be returned after drinking.
Lin Wan glanced at the prices on the list, old-fashioned yogurt and kombucha were twenty cents per bottle, orange soda was five cents per bottle. If they sold them, they could be priced at market rate, old-fashioned yogurt and kombucha thirty cents per bottle, orange soda twenty cents.
"Lin Yinghui, I never expected you to be such a hidden dragon, pretending to be poor and working at school so convincingly," Li Congnan said this as he took a lap around their hotpot restaurant, angrily punching Lin Yinghui’s shoulder.
"You really misunderstood, I was actually poor when I worked," Lin Yinghui replied helplessly.
"I can’t be fooled by you anymore; anyway, this time I’ve assured my parents that you can’t let me lose money, alright?" Their family had just started the business not long ago, and if it wasn’t for his dad knowing some people at the supply and sales agency, they really wouldn’t have managed. They had earned quite a bit this summer.
He was pleased, thinking he could also bring in customers and make some money. "Don’t worry. But when the things run out in the store, you need to deliver."
"Don’t worry, I hope you’ll sell them quickly so I can have some money to spend."
"Alright, rest assured, it’ll definitely be delivered on time."
"Brother, take Mr. Li upstairs for lunch," Lin Wan finished her tasks, and instructed the shop’s server, Dai He, to communicate with Aunt Liu in the kitchen about having noodles for lunch, then turned to her brother and said.
"What Mr. Li, little sis? Just call me Brother Li," Li Congnan frowned with dissatisfaction, then smiled again.
Lin Wan felt somewhat embarrassed and smiled, "Brother Li, it’s your first time here, so try our restaurant’s hotpot. If you like it, please introduce a few more customers to us!"
"Tsk, your little sister sure speaks better than you," he glanced triumphantly at Lin Yinghui.